Product Paradise

"This conditioner really surprised me!"-DJ

So this Sunday I went to Whole Foods and Target with my sister specifically to buy new hair products. I bought Suave Professionals Humectant conditioner, Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk shampoo, Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum, Castor Oil and Unrefined Virgin Coconut Oil. Because I will be featured in an article about natural hair for my school, I did a bantu knot set tonight in order to have a natural look tomorrow for the pictures that I and a few other ladies will be taking together. (more details soon) Anyway, tonight I decided to start off a little different; I decided to pre-poo! What exactly is pre-pooing? Pre-pooing is simply the conditioning of the hair prior to shampooing in order to prep it for the harsh ingredients of the shampoo. There are many different ways to pre-poo, there are even products out there specifically for this step! Most women who use homemade pre-poos just throw together different oils (most commonly EVOO) or just one oil and allow to sit for anywhere from 5 minutes to as long as overnight. I decided to try out my own pre-poo formula using the following ingredients:

• 1 tsp unrefined virgin coconut oil
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp castor oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp megatek equne rebuilder

I combined the above ingredients in a bowl and stirred them just a bit. I parted my hair in 4 equal sections and took about a teaspoon and a half of the pre-poo to rub into each section evenly. After my entire head was saturated, I placed a plastic cap on my head and sat under the dryer for 10 minutes with the settings on medium heat. Once I got from underneath the dryer, I shampooed in the shower with my Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk shampoo. One of my favorite features about this shampoo is that it doesn't take a lot to lather. Usually, when I use shampoos I have to wash, rinse, repeat and use a lot of product in order to get a good lather. I feel like I'm wasting my money when I have to take extra steps and extra product to get what I need out of it. So, I really appreciate the lather Organix! Other than that, my hair felt really clean but not overly stripped and the smell is great too! Not too strong to the point that it's annoying but I can still smell it after the fact. Once the shampoo was 100% rinsed out in warm water, I moved on to my Suave Professionals Humectant conditioner. Now, this conditioner really surprised me. At first I wasn't too thrilled about it because it's kind of thin and I'm used to using Herbal Essence's conditioners which we all know are thick and absolutely wonderful for detangling! I kinda had to take more time and extra care with my denman when trying to detangle with this conditioner but in the end it was worth it! After I was done detangling, I got back into the shower and allowed my shower head to rinse warm water over my head as I used my denman to smooth the hair down. Then, I detached my shower head and used cool/cold water to rinse my hair from underneath, smoothing with my fingers. I deliberately left some conditioner in my hair and rinsed out most of it (about 85-90%) out. OMGosh guys, when I say my hair instantly felt like silk.....I mean it! I don't think my hair has ever been this soft...ever!

So after I got back out of the shower I went on to do my bantu knot set. I part my hair in 4 sections again, which by the way was ridiculously easy because of how soft the conditioner left my hair. I pinned up each section except for the back right section and proceeded to brush through again and apply two pumps of the Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk Anti Breakage Serum. I probably could have used one pump and been just fine but I chose two for tonight. I brushed that through with my denman and applied a small amount of coconut oil on top before parting and doing my bantu knots. I repeated on each section until I was done and tied my hair up with my head scarf to sleep on.

So tonight I used each and every last one of my new products and I think it's pretty safe to say that I love them all! Although I can't remember the individual prices of the oils, I do remember they came up to about $13 and some change at wholefoods. The castor oil is by a company called "Home Health" and the coconut oil is the 365 brand. Not bad! The Organix products were each $7 and under and the Suave conditioner was only $1.97 at Target! Nooot baaadd!! Unfortunately the ingredients dictionary is down right now, so I'm unable to check the ingredients on these products but the Organix shampoo does claim to be sulfate/paraben free, which is a good thing. Below are pictures of all the products listed in this entry. Until next time, Happy Healthy Hair Growing! :)

(note: the coconut oil is not the brand that I used, just a visual. I bought the whole foods store brand "365 everyday value")